St. Landry democrat., 1887-11-12

would slip in or out, as the case might
be, sir, and we would miss her count !;
| but there is half a dozen of us would
take our affidavy that she takes never
less than six and often more than ten"
Are there many like her?'
ooh, there is lots of them that eats
| great many, sir, but think she is rather
/ the cOrkest Of the lot"
Investigation shows that while now
/ and then the young men who attend
these ladies, and furnish the prOvender,
indulge in hard drinks, such as Whlskey,
! brandy, gin, as a rule, they content them
selves with beer, not bottled beer, but
beer on draught, and the girls do the
same. Instead of being tired out and
used up by days of labor, standing at the
counter from seven o'clock in the morn
ing until six at night, vast major
ity of these girls are fairly frantic
on the subject of dancing, and equally
vigorous in their pursuit of the young
man able to pay for the oysters. The
proprietor of one of the big halls, where
dances are held every night during the
season, says there are regular gangs or
companies of these girls VIII, make it
point, in some way or other, to get to the
dance night in and night out, sometimes
for weeks in succession. Of the hum
dreds gathered scores will be girls who
go there every night.
They are there for fun, and they
get it.
They are there for oysters, and they
get them, and, when the faint pencilings
of early dawn suggest to the weary
orchestra that it is about time to pack
up the fiddle and the bow, the dressing
rooms literally echo with the laughter
and jolly conversation of these girls,
who, in fond anticipation of one more
"brile," hurridly don their street costume
and, seeking each her mate, gayly step
out upon the chilled pavement and
quickly join the others in the adjacent
resorts.
Facts are facts, and two and two make
four every time.
If girl is in a restaurant eating broiled
oysters at three o'clock in the morning,
having vet to 90 home, change her
clothes, get her breakfast and be behind
her counter, preparing for the duties of
the day, at seven o'clock, it stands to
reason that she will get very little sleep,
so that the oyster problem would seem
to resolve itself into this question: How
many broiled oysters are equal to good
nights rest? 1t speaks we'll certainly
for the health giving element of the
tempting biyalve that it, with the
attendant flour and water, not to
mention the beer, can maintain the
bright eve, the elastic nerve the
supple muscle and the bright red cheeks
for which the younger girls of the
day are famed, in spite of so absolute q
traversing Of the laws of nature. Men
not only cannot but do not pretend to be
able to stand it. In the first place, the
man is yet to be discovered who, after
hard days work, can spend a night In
ballroom and be fresh on the following
morning, and no one ever dreamed of
looking for a man who could go through
series of days work and nights of
hilarity, unbroken by sleep of any kind,
with any expectation of health or robust
ness.
In addition to this physical strain
comes the strain upon the wallet.
The ordinary attendant upon the Mol
lies and Titles and Rosebuds of the day
isn't noted for wealth. A very few nights
of hilarity and broiled oysters, with beer,
necessitate rest and recuperation not
alone Of nerve but of pocketbook, so that
the girls must of necessity have relays of
escorts. There is great deal of human
nature in most people, and this conun-
drum is one of the most interesting and
suggestive outcroppings from study of
human nature.
There is no question as to where these
girls come from.
They come from shops, the stores, the
bazars and the emporiums of the city.
There is no uncertainty as to what they
do. They work hard all day, they dance
all night and they subsist entirely upon
broiled or fried oysters. The only doubt
remaining is that which is suggested in
the first paragraph Of this story-just
how many broiled oysters is it possible
for the ordinary girl to engulf2